Guasha and sweat steaming are both popular ways to maintain health and prevent diseases. Can you do sweat steaming the day after guasha?
Can you do sweat steaming the day after guasha?
Sweat steaming the day after guasha doesn't have a significant impact, but it is not recommended.
Guasha involves using a specific material scraping board to repeatedly scrape and rub specific acupoints on the body, causing localized red spots or dark red bleeding points, which are known as "sha" marks. It has the effects of promoting blood circulation, expelling pathogenic factors, and detoxification.
Guasha and cupping can cause the skin pores to open, deplete the body's vitality, and doing sweat steaming the next day may not be well-tolerated by the body. Therefore, it is advisable to wait for a longer interval after guasha and cupping before doing sweat steaming.
Can you take a shower the day after guasha?
In general, it is okay to take a shower after guasha.
After guasha, you should wait for 1 to 6 hours to take a shower based on the severity of the "sha" marks. If the marks are mild, you can take a shower after 1 hour; for moderate marks, you can shower after 3 hours; for severe marks, wait for 6 hours. In other words, if the skin is not broken, you can take a shower the next day.
Precautions for guasha
1. Avoid wind and keep warm during guasha treatment
During guasha treatment, it is important to avoid wind and keep warm. When the room temperature is low, try to minimize exposed areas. In hot summer weather, do not perform guasha near a fan or in a drafty area. Guasha opens the skin pores, and if exposed to wind, the pathogenic factors can directly enter the body through the open pores, not only affecting the effectiveness of guasha but also causing new diseases due to wind-cold invasion.
2. Treat only one condition at a time
During each treatment, the scraping time should not be too long, and only one condition should be treated at a time. Avoid treating large areas continuously to protect the body's vitality.
For each condition provided in the textbook, when combining meridian acupoints with holographic acupoint areas, select 1-2 holographic acupoint treatment areas each time.
3. Drink a cup of hot water after guasha treatment
Guasha treatment opens the sweat pores and expels pathogenic factors, which consumes some of the body's fluids. Drinking a cup of hot water after guasha treatment can replenish the lost fluids, promote metabolism, and accelerate the elimination of metabolic waste.
4. Pay attention to the timing of bathing after guasha
After guasha treatment, to avoid wind-cold invasion, you should wait for the skin pores to close and return to their original state before bathing, usually about 3 hours. However, during bathing, when the skin is not completely dry, you can perform guasha. When bathing, the pores are slightly open, and guasha at this time is effective with less time needed, but remember to keep warm.
5. Pay attention to the direction of guasha
Do not scrape back and forth. The general principle is to scrape from top to bottom and from inside to outside. For the face, scrape from the inside to the outside; for the head, scrape from the top to the surrounding areas; for the neck, scrape from top to bottom; for the back and waist, scrape from top to bottom and from inside to outside; for the chest, scrape from inside to outside; for the abdomen, scrape from top to bottom; for the limbs, scrape from top to bottom. After finishing one area, move on to another area. Do not scrape randomly without order.
6. Pay attention to the duration of guasha
The scraping time for each area is 3-5 minutes; using a supplementary scraping technique, the time is 5-10 minutes per area. Generally, for one patient, select 3-5 areas for scraping. For patients who do not have "sha" marks or have minimal marks, the appearance of "sha" points or purpura on the skin is sufficient, and forcing the appearance of "sha" marks should be avoided.
7. Pay attention to the interval between treatments
Before the marks from the previous guasha treatment have faded, it is not recommended to perform guasha at the same area. There should be an interval of 3-6 days between guasha treatments, based on the fading of marks on the skin. Generally, 3-5 treatments constitute one course.
Who should not receive guasha treatment?
1. People with skin ulcers or other skin diseases: Guasha involves scraping the surface of the skin, and if there are ulcers, it can easily rupture and cause infection, worsening the condition.
2. People with hemophilia or leukemia: Guasha can cause local congestion, and those with low platelet counts should be cautious.
3. People with injuries in the areas that require guasha: such as arm abrasions, open wounds on the back, or leg fractures, etc.
4. Pregnant women: Especially avoid guasha on the abdomen, lower back, and sacrum as it can easily lead to miscarriage.
5. Patients with congestive heart failure, renal failure, cirrhotic ascites, or severe systemic edema: Guasha can cause greater harm to these individuals.
6. Patients with lower limb varicose veins: It is best for this group of people to avoid guasha. If guasha is necessary, caution should be exercised, and the scraping should be done in an upward direction, with gentle techniques.
